Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

Kari and Justin Eller are ELCA missionaries in La Paz, Bolivia. In a recent newsletter, Kari reflects on being an immigrant. Here are some of those thoughts. To support the Ellers, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Kari and Justin Eller

On Aug. 26, 2009, Justin and I left the United States as missionaries to Bolivia; in essence, we immigrated to follow God´s call. Our needs are different than many of our immigrant brothers and sisters, but none of that changes the fact that we too are immigrants.

We speak Spanish fluently, but some days we feel less understood than others. Other days though, we are inspired by what we see and do. It is a blessing to work with the Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church and they are adding to the core of who we are and what we are about. Living here has given us so many more opportunities to open our eyes and to truly welcome our neighbor into our lives and be transformed by them. And every morning when we wake up and look at Illimani (the mountain) we remember that while our jobs are big, we are only a small part of God´s plan.

In the Old Testament, we learn of the radical hospitality that should be extended to orphans, widows and foreigners.

 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt:  I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:34 

So look around you.  Who are the immigrants and marginalized in your community?  How have you welcomed them, shown them the radical hospitality of God´s love?

Or maybe you´re one of those people who hasn´t said anything against an immigrant, but maybe you haven´t spoken up for them either. I am an immigrant.  I look like many of you reading this newsletter today.  How would you prefer me to be treated?  How do you treat others like me where you live?  In this post-Christmas season, we reflect on how God unexpectedly reveals Godself to us in our neighbor and as a helpless baby in a manger.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31: 8-9

­Love always, Kari

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Christa VonZychlin, an ELCA missionary in Hong Kong, started 2012 with a visit to Cambodia. More of her photos from the trip can be viewed online. To support Christa, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

The Mekong River.

Finally, a set of pictures from my first visit to Cambodia New Year’s 2012. In 2012 you will be hearing more about my new job as Mekong mission forum assistant coordinator. Our family trip to Cambodia was my first trip to the country and my first chance to see the Mekong River (from whence comes my fancy new job title).

Cambodia was beautiful. We landed in Phnom Penh. We saw some LTS graduates and took a river boat down to Siem Reap. We also visited the amazing temples of Angkor Wat.

ELCA missionaries Wayne Nieminen and Christa VonZychlin in Cambodia.

Later in the year I will visit again (I think), and one of our LTS alumni has promised me a motorcycle ride to her home and a home-cooked meal, which will include home-grown snails from her family’s pond. I love my life and can’t wait to see what else the new year will bring! I do know I have an upcoming trip to Myanmar (Burma) very soon. And what hopeful news we are hearing from that country lately.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”  – God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah

Christa VonZychlin
Jan. 13, 2012

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Mary Borgman –  an ELCA missionary in Soweto, South Africa, serving in HIV and AIDS ministry — writes about an after-school program for young children. To support Mary, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Three children in the after-school program take a break from playing ball.

In late August we started an after school children’s program from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. We had been talking about starting a program since our kids’ week in July.

After much planning and preparation, the first day came and we had no children attend until just before 4 p.m.  Two children came and we explained the program and encouraged them to return.  I have to say this start was demoralizing.  I began to question whether the program was really needed, or if I had seen an opportunity to do something and then forced the implementation of a program.  This experience was humbling and called me to re-examine how I operate out of my culture and whether this fit with the context I am in. This certainly wasn’t the start with a bang that I had hoped for. My coworkers assured me that things start small and the program would grow.

Over the coming weeks we did grow. We grew from two children on the first day to three on the second and continued to almost double each week. We now have 40 to 50 children attending  regularly.

One of the benefits of the program is keeping the children off the streets. We try to have positive activities for them, including art and sports. Our resources for food are limited, but we have been able to feed all the children up to this point, and by God’s grace we will continue to do so. As time has passed we have a core group of kids who attend regularly and others who pop in and out, but we have had over 130 children attend along the way. I feel fortunate to spend time with these amazing kids.

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The ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program is reliant on coordinators who facilitate the young adults’ ministry and provide mentoring and spiritual guidance.  To support a YAGM coordinator,  go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship. Andrea and Luke Roske-Metcalfe are YAGM coordinators in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Here Andrea provides a snapshot of some of the young adults’ work.

Looking for a lost dog and learning responsibility.

During November and December, I visited all my Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers at their work sites.  Before they arrive (and even sometimes after they’ve been here for awhile), these volunteers often have very romanticized notions about what it means to be a missionary of the ELCA. This is often also true of their friends, families and supporting congregations.

We don’t tend to imagine that they spend their days carrying large quantities of condoms from place to place on the subway, or setting fires in dry, open fields or pushing wheelbarrows full of small children around the streets, shouting over and over the name of a lost dog.

But, indeed, that is what they do, at least here in Mexico. Let me explain.  Kyle works for Casa de la Sal, an HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and educational organization in Mexico City.  He spends his days giving workshops to people of all ages, dispelling myths about HIV and AIDS (both of which are much more prevalent here than they are in the U.S.), and teaching the basics of safer sex.

Ian works on Rancho La Troje, an organic farm and permaculture education center. The day I visited, he and the other farm hands were doing controlled burns to prevent wildfires from sweeping across the hillside.

And Kent works for Caminando Unidos, an alternative education center in Cuernavaca.  The center’s dog had run away the day before I visited, and the curriculum there is very hands-on.  The staff wanted to teach the children responsibility and the value of looking out for one another.  So half the school, everyone from babies to staff in their mid-20s, went on a dog-hunt!  Kent piled the four youngest in a wheelbarrow, and we were off.  We didn’t find the dog that day, but those kids took care of one another, and they took care of their dog in the only way they knew how.

These are only three of my volunteers this year, but suffice it to say that all seven of them are serving their communities in ways that they, their supporting communities, and even I could never have imagined. They are living and learning and loving alongside God’s people here.

Andrea Roske-Metcalfe

Kristopher and Rebecca Hartwig served in Tanzania from 2004 to 2011, though they both had lived there when they were younger. Kristopher is a palliative care/hospice physician by training and Rebecca is a nurse. They both worked with a palliative care home-health team out of Selian Lutheran Hospital, helping terminally ill people with control of their symptoms, emotional and family support, and spiritual care.

To support any of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

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The Rev. Paula M. Stecker works with the Lutheran World Federation Haiti office in communications and ecumenical relationships. To support Paula, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

New members of the royal priesthood.

Often as we walk between the main street, Delmas, and our little side street, we pass by a small soccer match in the middle of the street behind the bakery. These soccer matches are played with a sadly, half-inflated  ball striped with dirty tape. My first impulse was to replace it, but that would probably ruin the sport. You don’t want long kicks when the field is only 4 yards wide and 20 yards long. And if the ball looked too new or too valuable would it remain available to this scraggly crowd? The goalie box is marked by two broken halves of a cement block. There are spectators, of course, who cheer and coach as though we were at a grand stadium. And everybody rushes into the “stands” when a car or truck presumes to clear the field.

The imagination is a great gift. God allows us to see things beyond our present reality — to dream of things yet unseen. We can even practice the moves that we would make should that greater reality come to pass. Like little boys passing a weather beaten soccer ball on a dusty street, we sing our songs of praise and lift your prayers of adoration from our dusty, weather beaten, half-inflated lives, proudly wearing the colors of Christ, which are not yet fully visible to the spectators.

The Bible teaches that “Faith is hope in things unseen.” Like a tiny baby, wrapped in rags and laid in a bed of straw, before whom kings bowed and laid precious gifts and over whom multitudes of angels sang their heavenly choruses. Their hope was in the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God who would be a Savior. And it was visible only by faith. Christmas demands our imagination.

Today we baptized five young saints, marked  them with the cross of Christ and welcomed them into the royal priesthood. Afterwards there were some goodies and simple gifts and it was glorious.

The Stecker family, having been blessed to celebrate Christmas together, hope that you will have a blessed and holy imagination into the New Year!

Paula and Carl, Chantal and Valerie Stecker

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The Rev. Sam and Cindy Wolff are ELCA missionaries in Kenya. Sam is pastor of the Nairobi International congregation and works with the Dagoretti Swahili Church. To support the Wolffs, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Cindy and Sam Wolff

We are often asked, “How do you celebrate Christmas in Kenya?”  On a personal level, Cindy and I celebrate much the same way as we always have; worship, Cindy’s traditional Christmas Eve gathering (much more colorful than it was in Europe or the States), Christmas dinner with friends and a few gifts to exchange. This same formula is basically followed in the Kenya culture as well.

WORSHIP: In African society spirituality is an important part of life and it is reflected in the way people live and express joy. But here, Christmas worship is confined neither by date nor location. During this time, people gather together formally or informally to pray, sing, dance and celebrate the moment. Our congregation highlights include our Christmas Eve live nativity, with donkeys, goats, sheep and camels, all indigenous to Kenya. Children, many who are not part of our church,  eagerly await this celebration so that they may be part of the Angel Choir.

GATHERINGS: Next to religion, relationship is the most important African treasure. But gathering can be problematic as travel is expensive, often dangerous and always difficult. This combined with the severe economic crisis will force many Kenyans to miss their cherished gathering, so they celebrate with neighbors or friends. But few Kenyans will be alone on Christmas, such is the wonderful web of African relationships.

CHRISTMAS DINNER: For those who can afford it, the meal will be centered around roast goat. Sweet tea or Tusker beer is the drink of choice, with children getting a soda. The second choice will be a rice and meat dish called pilau. But in many cases Christmas dinner will be the same foods as usual (greens, maize meal and beans), but on this day, perhaps a bit more will be available.

GIFT GIVING: Those who can afford it will generally give gifts, but the holiday is not nearly as commercial as it is in Europe or the Americas. The emphasis is more on the religious aspect of celebrating the birth of Jesus than it is on gift giving. The most common thing bought at Christmas is a new set of clothes. Many Africans are not able to afford presents for their children and there aren’t too many toy stores in rural Africa anyway. If gifts are exchanged, they are usually school books, soap, cloth, candles and other practical goods.

DIFFERENT AND YET THE SAME:  Rich or poor, east or west, turkey or goat, eggnog or Tusker, we join together to celebrate the birth of our Saviour.

Blessed Christmas,
Sam and Cindy

 

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Kate Lawler and David Wunsch, who write here about Advent in Buenos Aires, are ELCA regional representatives in South America. To support them or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Our First Communion class, with David and Kate the bookends and Matthew in the middle.

Even though this is our seventh Advent season in Argentina, we are still struck by how different it feels  from the Advent experiences we grew up with.  Global mission service is constantly dislodging our preconceived notions and unsettling us with new questions.  In South America, Advent comes to us in the ever longer, ever warmer days that announce that spring is turning into summer.  We are challenged to seek the meaning of Advent in symbols and sensations that are not the ones we are used to.  This year on the second Sunday of Advent we were called to reinterpret the symbols of bread and water during a morning of baptisms and First Communions (including our Matthew!) at our congregation here in Buenos Aires.  Among those receiving these sacraments were members of our community who live in an extremely marginalized neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.  Families in this community literally subsist on the refuse of the city by recycling cardboard and retrieving items from a nearby landfill.

As I witnessed the baptism and First Communion of young people who were born into a state of exclusion, the symbols of water and bread took on the meanings that these elements have in the lives of those who do not have access to clean drinking water and whose daily bread is not a certainty.  As a listened to the giggles provoked by baptismal water trickling down faces and saw the joyful anticipation of that first holy bread, I was unsettled by the questions that stirred within me.  What commitment are we making when we baptize into the Christian community members who do not have access to clean drinking water?  What do the words “the Body of Christ given for you” mean when we speak them to a person who may not eat anything else that day?

These are among the questions that accompany us during this Advent season.  While we are far from   having the answers, the image that guides our search is a baby in a manger. While our Advent journey in South America is filled with unsettling questions and symbols that call for constant reinterpretation, we give thanks for the new ways that they point us to the Christ child.  Whether you await Christ’s arrival during the long days of summer or the long nights of winter, we pray that you will join us in asking how together our Christian community can help fulfill Christ’s promise of cleansing water, wholesome bread and new life for all of humanity.

With Advent hope,
Kate Lawler and David Wunsch

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The Rev. Nathan and Sharonette Bowman are ELCA missionaries in Kumamoto, Japan, serving in parish and social service ministries. To support the Bowmans, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

Nathan and Sharonette Bowman

Dear friends,

Merry Christmas. As we are preparing to honor God for his compassionate love for us, let us take time to reflect on the fact that it pleased and delighted God’s heart to give Himself, the greatest gift of all, to us.

As Christmas quickly approaches, in the midst of the many Christmas services, we are again challenged to remember the 830 children in children’s homes throughout Kumamoto Prefecture. This year marks the 25^th Annual Christmas Toy Drive. By this time next week,we will need to have purchased gifts for these children, most of who are taken from their homes because of relentless abuse. Others are developmentally disabled and cannot be managed by their parents. Sometimes the parent is developmentally disabled. A few have no parents, having disappeared, died or abandoned their children anonymously. (Kumamoto still has the nation’s only “baby shelter.”) The presents that we look for are those that have a connecting function, where the child will need to play with another child to enjoy the gift to its maximum value.

As we were also planning for next year, we came across some amazing toy patterns from some wonderful people at Toymaker Press (toymakerpress.com). Nathan hopes to build some of these for the children in any spare time he may have next year.

Looking back on this year, together with the rest of the nation, we were stunned by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northern Japan, for which many of you gave generously. The relief work continues among those who have been devastated.

We had the joy and honor of being able to visit with some of you this last summer. Our next scheduled Home Assignment is in the summer of 2013. As soon as we returned to Japan, it was like we had never left. The opportunities for ministry are vast, and we try to be faithful to our Lord, Jesus Christ, as we serve on behalf of you. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel this year, for your prayers, support and encouragement.

May you find delight, joy, strength and the love of God in the gift of Jesus Christ.

Nathan & Sharonette Bowman

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